21 year old female (pilonidal sinus)

“I found out that I had the pilonidal sinus. They cut it, drained it, and {the doctor} said it was going to come back. So I ended up doing the treatment surgery and {the doctor} stitched it up but said if it opened up then I would have to go have it packed up so that’s how I ended up {in this wound care clinic}. The clinician put me on the negative pressure wound therapy and it helped a lot. My wound started as 5 cm and after 2-3 weeks, this was before negative pressure, it wasn’t making progress, but as soon as I tried negative pressure it went down by 1.5 cm in a week".

How does seeing the images of the wound and the bacteria guide your cleaning process? “It’s very interesting. You’re told you have an infection, but you don’t really know what that means. Seeing the pictures, seeing where {the bacteria} is, when {the clinician} wipes it you can see where {the bacteria} is starting and where it is ending and how much is there. It’s very interesting.

Has this changed your at home cleaning practices based on this knowledge? “Oh for sure”.

How do you think using the device improves wound care practice? “Makes the patient more knowledgeable. You can see how big the cut is, how big the infection is. For the nurses it’s easier for them to decide what they need to use. If it’s not a big infection they can use different methods”.